63. Reunion

  “So what do you think?” Lilayla asked, examining the holographic world before her. She didn’t have access to a real-time image, she’d need to interface with the world’s eidolon for that, but the grainy image that she conjured what little authority she’d managed to garner over the planet was enough to show the majority of the arrays, which were lighting up by type and position all over the landmasses.

  And some beneath the ocean.

  “I don’t have the mind for worldwide arrays, you know that,” Mioji complained. “Why are you bothering me with this? I was sent to figure out his martial might, you were sent to figure out his strategic genius.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” she said, looking around at the warded room they rested in. Officially they were allies, but diplomats had their secrets, and any diplomat worth their salt is just a spy who announces their presence. But to be so bold about it when the planet itself might be listening was just foolish. “But this is six steps beyond what I’ve ever seen for a world-array.”

  “So break it down and figure out what each piece does,” Mioji suggested.

  “That’s what I’ve tried to do,” she said, sighing. “Look, these here are designed to protect cities. It’s pretty obvious; the only part that links them is the one that borrows power from the central array. They’re worldwide in the sense that they’ll hold until the world’s Qi itself is drained. But they’re also local, allowing the generals to sacrifice a shield to protect the world. And a fuse is built into them as well, so that they won’t face the contradiction of an unstoppable force and unmovable object.”

  “Okay, great. So you figured out how he’s protecting the world. Good for—”

  “That makes up less than a tenth of the arrays that are under construction,” she continued.”

  Mioji’s eyebrows rose. “What?”

  “I know,” she said. She brought up a few different arrays, pulling them out so that he could see their arrangement more closely. “This one seems to be a weaker version of the city defense, but aimed at the non-protected zones. He’s not just protecting the population centers, but the rural areas and even the wilderness.”

  “Okay. Makes sense. The cities are going to get hit hardest, but the rest of the world would make for incursion points where they could set up a siege,” Mioji said. “This won’t stop them if they’re determined, but it will slow them down.”

  “And that makes up a total of twenty-five percent of the arrays that he’s building,” she continued. “And I have no idea what the rest of them do.”

  Mioji frowned, studying the holographic representations for a moment. “Say, Lilayla,” he said.

  “Yes Mioji?”

  “Think anyone would think it’s weird if I decided to inspect some of these construction sites?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “But I don’t think he’ll stop you.”

  Mioji nodded, and then stood and left the warded room. He boisterously announced his plans to inspect the common soldier’s activities, demanding that his staff immediately rearrange all of the schedules to make this new plan a reality.

  Lilayla sighed, shaking her head. Well, that was one way to be a spy, she thought. She continued to examine the holograms for a few moments, then shook her hand and willed them to dissipate.

  Instead a beautiful woman’s face appeared.

  “You’re never alone,” Matla said. “Don’t think that I won’t tell on you if you start scheming against us.”

  Then the partially manifested eidolon vanished. She was so stunned that she’d never even thought of reaching out to claim this part of the world for herself. It was an incredibly rude thing to do on the core world of a fellow lord, but she didn’t think that Little Bug was experienced enough to know how vulnerable a talkative Eidolon made them.

  She frowned.

  Then again, she hadn’t thought that he could create a tapestry of arrays like the one she had just shown to Mioji.

  Just what was Little Bug?

  She sighed, then began preparing for bed. She didn’t require much sleep, but sometimes she got flashes of inspiration in her dreams, so she kept up the habit even after it became optional.

  ~~~~~~

  The old woman straightened her back, wincing at the familiar ache in her spine from too many years. She looked down at the writings she’d made, translating the words of the divine Little Bug from the language of the south back into the language of the north. Her native tongue. It didn’t matter which language he’d actually spoken them in, in her mind the northern tongue was the only proper language to record his divine insights.

  She set the page aside to dry and looked up at the window. The sky was turning orange, and it was time to go home. She began putting her desk in order, and once she had finished she stood on protesting knees, then made her way out of the temple.

  The last few years had been hard. Loosing her daughter and son in law in the flight from the north. Losing everything. Wondering what it was all for if she was the one to outlive her entire family, rather than getting buried by the next generations as was proper. But she’d found purpose in the Worldfather’s teachings.

  So when the clergy began to organize itself, she was quick to volunteer.

  She was not one to give sermons or inspire crowds, but she could quietly cross-reference and translate the divine words of wisdom with the best of them, as she proved every day.

  She was just thinking about the arguments she’d encountered when she noticed someone passing through the temple doors as she was leaving. She gasped in surprise.

  “Little Ro? Is that you?” she called, and the young man jerked in shock. He turned to her.

  “Grandmother?” he asked.

  Hien Quan’s eyes began to water with the joy. She had not seen her grandson since her foolish son in law had sold him to the Six Mountain Sect despite her wisdom and wishes. “Oh Little Ro, I am so glad that you are still alive! I thought that I was the last one left!”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “Grandmother, I thought you would be—I am happy to see you in good health. I, I have some business to deal with in the temple, hold a moment. I’m very sorry but I have business that simply can’t wait. Lives are on the line. Come back here tomorrow in the morning, and I will introduce you to your great-grandchildren, and your granddaughter in law. We’ll discuss things then.”

  The young man embraced her, and his touch was so gentle, as though he was afraid of breaking her. She had no such fear and she squeezed him as tightly as she could. Her eyes watered. “Oh, thank Little Bug that I lived to see this day,” she said.

  “I’m so sorry I cannot stay and celebrate,” Hien Ro said. “But tomorrow, I promise. Wait, you!” Hien Ro pointed at a young priest. “Follow this woman home and make certain that she is safe and taken care of.”

  “Grandson, you can’t simply boss around the clergy like—”

  “Of course, Master Ro,” the priest said.

  “I’m truly sorry, Grandmother, that I don’t have time just now. Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our great reunion,” Hien Ro promised, and he suddenly vanished. If it weren’t for the priest following her home, Hien Quan might have thought that the entire meeting was hallucinated.

  But the next morning, she got to hold her great-grandchildren. And she learned that her little Ro didn’t just share a name with one of the ten disciples.

  Her daughter and son in law might have perished, but her grandson had stood beside the worldfather in the darkest moments of history.

  But compared to the way he spoke of his daughters, she could tell that his pride in those accomplishments was nothing.

  ~~~~~~~~

  “Grow?” the peach pit asked. “Time to grow?”

  I held it quietly in my hand, looking at the glowing orb that represented Atla. He had manifested a hologram of his true body for the tactical meeting, but his eidolon was currently playing dice with Hien Ro’s daughters and their recently rediscovered great-grandmother.

  I was quietly regretting the years that I had overlooked Hien Ro’s surviving family. I could have found Hien Quan at any time if it had been put into my head to do so, and I could have saved her much anguish and brought my friend a lot of joy in the reunion much sooner.

  But other things had been more pressing, and I hadn’t thought of it.

  Now was not the time for recriminations.

  “Grow?” the peach pit continued to ask, just as it had been for months now. I fed it a bit of Qi, just as I always did when I slipped my hand into that pocket.

  “Not yet, little one,” I answered. “But I may call on you soon.”

  “Waiting. Waiting to grow.”

  “I know, little one. I promise, when it’s time, you’ll be beautiful.”

  “—are the largest gaps in the network. The oceanic vulnerabilities are being mitigated by the ocean floor arrays you’ve designed, but we only have so many silver and gold ranked formation experts who are equipped to place them. While the protection of the continents is nearing completion, the global network is only three fifths complete,” Di Ram was saying.

  I nodded. “The most important formations are already in place. If another invasion force hits us as we are now, they’ll not find us unprepared.”

  “No, but yet there’s so much work to do,” Di Ram said, sighing. “Do you think it will be enough?”

  “It depends on what forces they bring to bear,” I answered honestly, for we were almost alone. “If they bring the full might of the entire Divine Fates Empire, then no. We cannot stand against the entirety of their forces. But Nadia, despite styling herself as the empress, doesn’t have enough pull to demand a full mobilization for her pet project of hunting me down. A few divisions of their army, yes. Everything else will be distributed throughout Loshi’s realm as a war of conquest. It may sound ruthless, but we don’t have to worry about that.”

  “And the worlds caught in the crossfire?” Di Ram asked.

  “It will be a war of conquest, not extermination, which they are subjected to,” I answered. “Their lords and rulers might be slain and replaced, but the common people will survive. The Divine Fates did not reach the heights they stand upon by wastefully throwing away cultivation resources such as fertile words full of vassals.”

  “But it would be different on Atla,” Di Ram asked.

  “I cannot say. Nadia is mad, and I can’t predict her anymore. She might wish to destroy my home simply to hurt me,” I admitted. I sighed. “All we can do is prepare for the worst, and hope.”

  ~~~~~~~~

  The lightless eyes of her daughter stared at Tonilla.

  “You failed me, Mother,” the ghoul said, and Tonilla remained silent. “I trusted you and you got me killed. Worse than killed, I died twice because of you.”

  Tonilla exhaled, and she reached out and embraced the vision. “I know.”

  The vision shivered and cracked, and the magics that had been tormenting her for weeks finally broke down. She found herself in a chair before a bed where an old woman lay. The woman had long gray hair and wrinkled skin and eyes that glowed with fire inside them.

  “Is that all?” Tonilla asked. “You showed me weeks of my failings and fears, but I could have listed them all off in order if you’d but have asked.”

  Omaia cackled. “You say that, but you have a spine. You should have seen the last supplicant for my power. She broke after ten hours. Most of my daughters and granddaughters did little better. Only you lasted to the end of the magic. Anyway, it wasn’t me who designed the spell, but my grandmother. I just figured ‘I had to go through it, why not make it a tradition?’”

  Tonilla nodded. “So you’re serious about the inheritance? Are you truly dying?”

  “Don’t you see?” Omaia asked. “I’m already dead. This is my true body, lingering and withering as the fragments of my power wink out one by one. If the last of me dies before I choose a successor, then my world, dear dear Omas, will be vulnerable and just anyone can come in and scoop him up. I don’t want that, so corpse though I am, I reach out for one last indulgence.”

  Tonilla nodded. “If that’s the way of things, then I’m honored to be considered for the position. If you do choose me, then I will bring the full force of Omas to bear against the Divine Fates empire in the defense of my home world and—”

  “I don’t care,” Omaia said. “I’ve been watching you for a while now, and I’ve already decided. Omas, it’s time. This is my successor. Lady Di Tonilla. I relinquish my power and name her my successor.”

  She spoke the words, and nothing changed. But then Tonilla blinked, and she realized that she was standing in a room with a corpse that had been dead for years. The shriveled body was propped up on pillows and had her hands folded over her chest in peace.

  Tonilla stood and walked out of the room, where she found a line of servants waiting for her. They bowed, and presented her with a crown.

  “Queen Tonilla,” the majordomo said, “how might your court serve you?”

  “I suppose to begin with, I’ll need to figure out exactly what I’ve inherited,” she said. “I know absolutely nothing about Omas except that it is the name of this world. I’m not even that powerful, I’ve only just formed my identity core and—”

  “That is well. Come with me,” the majordomo said. He urged her to sit on her throne in the heart of her palace, and the moment she did so, she felt everything click into place.

  She was the heart of the world. Her world was the heart of a nexus.

  And she could control everything from here.

  ?